Stages of Escalation: The game of one upmanship!?

Stages of Escalation: The game of one upmanship!?
In the movies Dr. Strangelove and Thirteen Days, I emphasized how the "West," has been on the edge of "readiness." I noted that America has been on the brink of "Nuclear" war, on at least a couple of occassions.
Can you identify some other/current countries/event, whose actions, and relations, with the United States, might provoke a similar sequence of steps/events to occur. Please identify at least eight "steps" that have indicated this escalation of events, as the situation intensifies, that can be said to be with us today. Besure to identify as many dates as possible, the counties involved, and the ways in which each country's response has "seemingly" adanced the situation to intensify the situation, and perhaps lead us to a climax.